Jeremiah Martindale with some of yesterday's catch off the dock.
The lake level is 555.72 and getting back up there again and has risen 6-inches in the last 24-hours with 4-hours of running one generator. The White River at Newport is 15.07 feet and rising fairly quickly. The surface water temperature is right at 70-degrees and the main lake is clear and you can see your lure down about 7-feet. The creeks are stained with the recent rains but are clear near the shore. Fishing is about as good as it gets with crappie, walleye, white bass, stripers, black bass, bluegill and flathead catfish all biting. More and more fish of different species have finished their spawn and are post-spawn feeding. I have never seen more fish under Blackburns Dock. Fish are both in open water on shad and on brush piles. It would be nice if the lake stayed at this level all the time. We just do not need a big rain in the Norfork River watershed. At least we are in the middle of May and at a good level instead of being flooded out by now. Everything is green and growing quickly. I finish mowing and then just start all over again. The big swimming pool with slide and baby pool is open and ready for your visit. The pool has been repainted and the deck resurfaced and we have much new furniture. People ask me why I am not posting my picture on the web? The answer is not intensional. First I do not have a phone or what ever you call the stick to hold them out, and second I am not trying to impress you on how many fish I can catch. I catch a few but want our customers to catch them. That is why we put in so many brush piles. I know you want to see my old face day after day on the internet and repeat pictures of a few of our customers over and over but I prefer to have a variety other than just fish. You can bet I will be out there as much as I can after my job is done for the day and gain input from other people that are better fishermen than I am and you will be the first to know what is happening on Norfork Lake. I release most of my fish except to give to people that have trouble catching any or a group that cannot go fishing anymore. Leave the dock floors full of dead fish to the meat hunters. We have enough of them and they are not impressing anybody except themselves. Catch a few, keep a few and release a few and leave some for other people especially the children. The fishing pressure is getting heavier everyday with people moving here and we have a fishing guide for about every two fishermen. Listen to KTLO FM 97.9 on Tuesday and Friday at 8:20 AM and 1:20 PM for a Norfork Lake Condition Report by Scuba Steve and a Live in the Boat Fishing Report by Bink's Guide service on Thursdays at 8:40 AM to keep informed on what is happening on Norfork Lake. Come on down to Blackburns and we will not charge you too much and a free stall for your boat comes with the cabin.
